trying to make a die.

[Dougotio]

Hello,
I have a question on how to proceed to machine a die approximately 1” round in some high carbon steel. I will anneal the metal first then harden and temper when I am done cutting.
I am working on a cnc mill for this purpose. In the mean time I have gotten a 3d Pantograph/mill.
It is a Deckel clone and weighs in at about 1500 lbs.
I am trying to learn how to operate this pantograph.
What I need to know is how to approach the milling of the steel having to do with speed, type of cutters etc.
I read everything, but not being a machinist I don’t understand everything I read.
The archives are not much help to me as I am just not getting it.
BTW I will be using my 25 ton press to impress the die into .925 silver and some .999 silver, also brass i.e. all non Ferris metal.
I am just a hobbiest trying to make cool stuff for my family and friends.

I have tried to ask this question before, but my lack of communication skills have stood in the way of getting the type of answer that was helpful to me.
I hope this post is concise and to the point.

Thank you all in advance of the answer to these questions,
Doug

[diecutter]

Dougotio, Making coining dies is what I do and I would be happy to help you progress in this area. I have two panto-engravers and one cnc coining die engraver which I built myself. What type of pantomill do you have? I may have the instruction manual for it or know where to get one. What type and diameter cutters do you use. I may be able to sharpen up a couple cutters for you to get you started right. Concerning striking silver blanks, 25 tons seems a little light to do this. You may be able to make multiple strikes with annealing done between each strike. I'll post some answers when you respond.

[Dougotio]

Originally Posted by diecutter Dougotio, Making coining dies is what I do and I would be happy to help you progress in this area. I have two panto-engravers and one cnc coining die engraver which I built myself. What type of pantomill do you have? I may have the instruction manual for it or know where to get one. What type and diameter cutters do you use. I may be able to sharpen up a couple cutters for you to get you started right. Concerning striking silver blanks, 25 tons seems a little light to do this. You may be able to make multiple strikes with annealing done between each strike. I'll post some answers when you respond.

Diecutter,

My pantomill is a COSMO.
I can’t find anything on the internet about it. I have no manual on it. The guy that sold it to me gave me a manual for a Deckel.
Sure would be nice if you could help fill in the blanks.

I have no tooling yet. I will get it as soon as I find out what I need.

I will keep looking for a bigger press. Would a heavy drop hammer work?

I know something about annealing and heat treating. I used to make knives.

What metal alloy should I get and where do I get it?


Thanks,
Doug

[adrxian]

I am interested in this thread too. I'm looking at making lots of leather 'coins' for a local group. Half-dollar size and various details being different sometimes. I would like to shear and strike in the same action, if thats possible too, from leather pieces.

[lazza]

I'd love to join in on this thread as well...I'm a custom knife maker...I have a Haas TM-1 and I'd like to make a couple of custom logo stamps for hand stamping my maker's mark on my blades....no idea what type of cutters to use....????

[DieGuy]

Originally Posted by adrxian I am interested in this thread too. I'm looking at making lots of leather 'coins' for a local group. Half-dollar size and various details being different sometimes. I would like to shear and strike in the same action, if thats possible too, from leather pieces.

It should be possible, what you want is a post lower with a stripper plate and a round upper that has a floating plunger that bottoms out which contains you embossing. I assume you are doing this in a small press?

[adrxian]

Originally Posted by DieGuy It should be possible, what you want is a post lower with a stripper plate and a round upper that has a floating plunger that bottoms out which contains you embossing. I assume you are doing this in a small press?

I havent even started the machine. As with milling machines, I want to design from the tool outward. Will all be based on what power/travel/speed I need. I can do something mechanical, hydraulic or pneumatic but I like the idea of a big motor turning a hammer-like press and just move the leather around by hand as needed so we can use odd shaped scraps. (yeah, it WILL have a guard for fingers!!) I was thinking something with a 6 inch throat max. thats all depending on what I need for dies. I have a taig cnc mill to do the engraving so i dont care about machine-time on that part and my dad owns a pretty sizable (50,000 sq ft) foundry so I can get access to whatever materials I need. My only real "hope" is that I can do it somewhat benchtop or stow-able, otherwise size/power/cost are all flexible.

We talked about pressing them out of aluminum before somebody came up with the 'bright' idea of using leather... so this thread caught my eye for sure!

I've seen the round Vee shaped dies used for cutting circles and was hoping I could get away with just increasing that concept to a die to press in the designs. The backs will all be the same but the fronts need to be changeable.

Dont HAVE to do both in one action, but seems like a nice way to conserve $/time/space if its possible since it IS only leather.. ya know.

Maybe a die that closes/presses and then an outer v-shaped circular cutter to slide down and cut the circle out around the dies before they disengage?

does that make sense?

Ive got quite a bit of experience with CNC and heavy mechanical but really nothing to do with pressing or die-cutting... aside from the likely-wrong-thought-it-was-common-sense type stuff.

[Dougotio]

Diecutter must be having a long week end.
Happy Holidays to youall.

Can anyone give me info on this?
My pantomill is a COSMO.
I can’t find anything on the internet about it. I have no manual on it. The guy that sold it to me gave me a manual for a Deckel.
Sure would be nice if you could help fill in the blanks.

Thanks,
Doug

[Dougotio]

I found this on the web. It is like mine only mine is much cleaner looking.(really)
The guy said it is a deckle clone.

http://inv.westvalleytool.com/q/webi...,,a,,,20081789,,

Doug

[jonblack]

Regarding Making Leather Coins:

You can acheive amazing results using magnesium stamping dies. Im no CNC expert but you can get much more detail using dies made from photoengraved magnesium than you can from a CNC made die. Plus its super cheap. Costs less than $2 per square inch.

You would want to stamp your design and cut out your perimeter in two passes. No need to combine the actions as it would increase the tooling cost dramatically. The order would be up to your personal preference. I have done this on keychain fobs and other scrap pieces of 5-6 oz tooling leather. The detail is unbelievable.

If I can dig up some of these old pieces Ill be happy to post a photo of them.

Due to the way photoengraved dies are produced, you actually get a 3d effect because your outline receives a bevel, whose slope is a function of the temperature of the etching solution.

If you arent up to all of this, and would like to have someone do it all for you, Id be happy to help out. All I really need from you would be your design specs, and a line art drawing or print out of the artwork you want to appear on the leather coin.

Hope someone finds this reply of interest
jonblack